Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

Jonah: Part 2

by Anne Lawrence

15 October 2014

« Previous Day | Next Day »

Nevertheless the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn’t, because the sea kept growing wilder against them.
Jonah 1:13, NIV

Last time I looked at Jonah I talked about his choice to run away and escape from God when the challenge came. I talked about the cost of that.

In Jonah 1:4 we see that a ferocious storm built up around the ship Jonah was escaping in. When we`re escaping and running away, don`t we usually think that we can just run away and no one will know or be affected? It’s just my issue – it hasn’t got anything to do with anyone else. Well, with Jonah a raging storm appeared. It wasn’t just him that was affected but those around him. The sailors were affected, even though they didn’t know Jonah or anything about his story.

When we`re running away and not facing the issues in our lives, we`re often trying to contain the effects of it within ourselves and hoping that it won’t affect others. Inevitably though, it does affect others. What`s going on inside us, the strategies we use to cope and contain, affect others. They impact our relationships and can often influence our health and our finances. There was a poet called John Donne who wrote ‘no man is an island’. The Bible says, we`re a body. What we do affects those around us.

The sailors started trying to save the situation by throwing the cargo overboard, but they couldn’t do anything to save the boat. Why did their attempts not work? This is because they weren`t dealing with the real issue. They were working around what they could see. They could see the storm, they could see the waves – they couldn’t see the choices that Jonah had made before they ever met him. This is often where we`re at. We`re praying for someone, and trying to help them, but unless we know from the Lord what the cause of this problem is, we can`t help them to solve the problem. It’s no good praying that their headaches will go away if we`re not asking God to deal with the real cause of the headaches.

Finally they spoke to Jonah and discovered that he was the cause of the storm. He told them what to do. They would have to throw him overboard. This was a hard thing; a radical thing. What would people think? What would the consequences be for Jonah and themselves? If they threw him overboard he would die. They felt they couldn’t do that, so they kept trying their own methods but in the end, they had to do it.

Sometimes, when things have gone quite far down the line, the way out, the solution to the problem can seem this way. Radical, hard, scary – what will people think? But it`s the only way out. As soon as the sailors took the step – the storm ceased. The storms can take a bit longer to calm down in our lives but they do cease.

When we allow the Lord into the real issue, He will work His restoration in our lives. It may be a long journey but He`s faithful and will complete what he`s started.

Prayer: Thank You, Father, that You complete what You`ve started. Help me to be willing to look at the real issues that I`ve been trying to hide from, and allow You to heal me and restore me. Help me to make the choices that You`re asking me to make. Thank You that You`re my strength and strong tower. Amen.

Anne Lawrence joined the team at Ellel Grange in 2010 and is the Deputy Centre Director. She is married to Paul, Centre Director. Anne previously worked in education. Her last post was CEO of a College in Dublin. She has written courses, syllabi and a book for the English for Work series published by Longman. She has a heart for the broken and a passion to see people set free and released into more of what the Lord has for them. She loves to teach, listen, worship and create things.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.